The crazy, incredible, supernatural objectivity of the Word of God...

The dictionary says ‘objectivity’ means, “having reality independent of the mind”. Or, “…of, relating to, or being an object, phenomenon, or condition in the realm of sensible experience independent of individual thought and perceptible by all observers”.

Put another way, objectivity, or ‘absoluteness’ is something that exists in reality with a quality of incorruptness beyond the natural. Something that cannot be added to, subtracted from, nor altered in any manner. It cannot be changed or made to mean something else as a result of thought, wish, idea, fiat, vote, anger, profit, angst, or any other external force. It stands alone and complete, needing nothing but its own existence to provide justification and totality.

GOD’S WORD ON GOD’S WORD

That’s what God’s Word claims itself to be, that is, absolute, incorruptible. Peter said that we are, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”. 1 Peter 1:23.

Being incorruptible, being absolute, being objective is what our nation’s constitution was meant to be, as are labor/management contracts, marriage vows, legal statutes or ordinances and others. Man needs, man seeks, that incorruptible objectivity in life. And when man doesn’t get it, when the ‘objective absolute’ isn’t held absolute, isn’t obeyed, isn’t observed, or is altered…he fails in almost every endeavor. Witness the failure of this nation in so many ways, after diminishing and rebranding our constitution as a ‘living document’ subject to change, interpretation, political maneuvering and other corruptible influences. One might also place in this category, the church, that singular Body of Christ that has been so decimated, divided and almost conquered, by a failure to hold fast to the incorruptible Word of God. Little foxes spoil the vine…little alterations or omissions, make the Word of God of none effect. And while the changes, additions and subtractions to the Word don’t nullify it, while they don’t alter the absoluteness of the Word of God…the practitioners of change or alteration do divorce themselves from its effectiveness in their own lives.

This can be seen in such things as higher criticism, which is at bottom, a futile attempt to strip from the incorruptible Word of God, its very objectivity, it’s very self-proclaimed and witnessed incorruptibility. And while such things cannot alter the Bible’s objectivity, they can alter man’s perception of it, can cause them to disbelieve, to rationalize without cause, that which is impossible to rationalize, to excuse the inexcusable, to bow to inconvenience, to seek for intellectual (and thus, natural) understandings, and other such attempts to set aside the Word’s perfectness and the singular object on earth blessed with a God-given imprimatur.

“Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:1-13.

It is impossible to alter the Word of God. It is absolute, objective, incorruptible. But we must assuredly can diminish its impact upon us, we can ignore it, we can lay it aside, we can make it of little or none effect. And that produces vanity, in worship, in life, in experience...naught but the Word of God is absolutely objective, or objectively absolute.

MEANING WHAT IT SAYS…SAYING WHAT IT MEANS

Even worship, though sincere and deep, is vanity, if it isn’t activated by truth…for we must worship both, “in spirit and in truth”. John 4:24. This admonition should be sufficient to insure the truth, the observance of the absoluteness of God’s Word in churches throughout the world today. It is something churches should want, rather than flee from.

Unfortunately though, there are entire industries given over to altering the unalterable Word of God…they’re called ‘denominations’. After all, isn’t a ‘denomination’ something that is practically defined by differences? For denominations are known and characterized by their differences (as purportedly gleaned from the Word of God) from other denominations (most of which purportedly obtain their essential differences from the Word of God). A dollar bill is denominated from a five dollar bill by what it says, what it is given to mean, in relative value. In churches, ‘denominations’ are denominated in their differences of understanding, belief and interpretations of the Word of God.

What would happen, if everyone agreed to accept the Bible as saying what it means to say (or what God means it to say), and meaning what it says? And in truth, no scripture is of any private interpretation, for, “…no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” 2 Peter 1:20-21.

It won’t happen though. For there is way too much money, power and influence, and way too many people invested worldwide, in the errors that define the denominations...thereby supporting them with their money, presence and fealty. And they simply do not get, probably will never get, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” Matthew 22:29.

And not only is the Word of God incorruptible, but Jesus claimed the Word to have an eternal, objective nature that will withstand even the end of the heaven and earth (and religion, denominations, personal opinion and whim, etc), with, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” Mark 13:3. Personally, when I stand before God in judgment, and if He points out any error on my part here on earth, I plan to say to God (in total humility and worshipful attitude), “Yes Lord, but YOUR WORD SAID...and I based my life upon that”.

ONE OF THE MOST INSIDIOUS OF TOOLS USED TO NEGATE THE WORD OF GOD

There are two statements, made by religious people, which always send me running for the Bible and my prayer closet. “I know all about Revelation and the end times, and can tell you exactly what will happen” is first. Second though is, “Yeah, I know that’s what it says, but the context…the context of this verse gives it another meaning”. (Actually, it's the 'but' that makes me recoil so quickly, for I know that almost invariably, the thing following will be in disagreement with the plain words of the scripture.)

For in truth, appeals to context do not impact the Word of God. What is true in this context, is true in all contexts. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” is plain truth, regardless of context. There is, there can be, no context in which it is not true. Context cannot be allowed to corrupt the plain meaning of the Word of God. For truth, like the Word of God (“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”) John 17:17, is objective.

By way of quick example, the same may be said for, “And the law is not of faith:” Gal. 3:12a. And also, “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23b. Context for either of these would be irrelevant. And given the ‘precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, nature of God’s Word, then, “And the law is not of faith…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin”, means that for one attempting to live under both law and grace it is sin, and is rightly condemned by Paul as spiritual ‘adultery’. (Romans 7:1-7).

You may appeal to context to explain, to verify, add interest to your sermon…but you may not use it to alter the Word of God. “I would that ye all spake in tongues” is truth, regardless of context. It matters not one whit what historians, or Greek scholars, or fly by night preachers have to say about context. “I would that ye all spake in tongues” stands as incorruptible truth. That is not however, to diminish IN ANY WAY the following or preceding words and verses…for they too, bear the unmistakable stamp of the absolute objectivity of the Word. A hallmark of the Word of God, in its entirety, is balance. We must therefore, reconcile everything said about any particular concept of the Bible, with every other word said in the Bible regarding such a matter.

THE PLUMBLINE or PLUMMET

”Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel…” Amos 7:7-8.

The plumbline is an indispensable tool in building. In order to insure we build straight and true (whether secular building, business or the church), we must apply the plumbline. Even today, with satellites, GPS and so forth, in construction, the plumbline still reigns supreme in determining structural integrity.

Repeatedly throughout the New Testament we are urged to prove all things, to examine ourselves, to try the spirits, to let no man deceive us…And how do we do this? Do we do it by reference to denominational teachings or disciplines? By Papal Decretal? By the writings of famous men and women? By our own current emotional state? By voices and visions in the midnight times? By gauzy angels appearing at our bedsides? By (God forbid) votes?
God has set within the church, the Plumbline, His Word. And it not only must serve as our point of reference, our baseline, our indispensable tool for building and growth, but it will serve also as our judge in eternity to come, for,

“Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.” Isaiah 28:17.

All the little foxes, all the little lies, all the little agreements in error, will be swept away at judgment, which will be rendered according to God’s Word and the lives we’ve lived on earth thereby.

Yes, it is crazy. Yes, it is almost incomprehensible to some who know God through Jesus Christ, and even more so to all who don’t know God. But to the saved, to the saint, in its effect upon us, it is living and life. It is what makes us rise early, sit up late, and to miss all the good and bad of the flat screen…to read, study, pray and pray upon, the naturally crazy, incorruptible, absolute, objective, WORD OF GOD.